The present invention relates to light guides utilized, for instance, in curing resins in medical, dental, scientific, industrial and military applications.
Light guides can be utilized to expose photocurable materials to high intensity visible light to change the materials from a paste-like putty to a substance having the hardness of ceramic or glass in a few seconds. Thus, for example, such probes have been utilized in dental procedures to harden photocurable sealants, adhesives and filler material for filling dental cavities. Of course, such a probe can be utilized in any application which requires an accurately directed high intensity light beam.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,658,896 and 6,807,344 issued to Galarza and U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,546 issued to Cuda disclose fiberoptic light guides useable as dental probes and methods of making fiberoptic light guides. The elongate fiberoptic probes have bent distal ends enabling high intensity light beams to be accurately directed within the mouths of patients during dental procedures. Another fiberoptic dental probe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,826 issued to Friedman.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,314,804 issued to Willson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,339,928 issued to Hood; U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,020 issued to Parsons et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,598 issued to Kitano et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,881 issued to Pirooz disclose processes for blackening glass in a hydrogen atmosphere at an elevated temperature. The Willson and Pirooz patents relate to the production of decorative glass articles; the Hood patent relates to producing glass fibers for use as textiles; the Parsons patent relates to forming non-reflecting black coatings on the edges of optical lenses and prisms; and the Kitano patent relates to producing a light conducting glass body with an outer light absorbent layer. In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,989,960 and 5,078,773 issued to Thomas disclose blackening an outer surface of an optical lens; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,259,057 and 5,351,332 issued to Cook disclose the production of fiber optic face plates; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,246 issued to Borrelli et al. discloses a method of forming color gradients or decorative patterns on glass surfaces.
Although the aforementioned light guides and methods of manufacture may function in a satisfactory manner for their intended purposes, there is a need for a fiberoptic light guide that can be efficiently manufactured and that can be utilized to concentrate high intensity light.